Chamber and committees

Duty solicitors provide representationfor the first appearance at court for accused persons appearing either from custodyor in response to a police undertaking. Prisoners on remand awaiting trial are ableto obtain criminal legal aid for their solicitor of choice.

The duty solicitor scheme isoperated by the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) in accordance with legal aidregulations. Regulation 5 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations1996 requires the board to make duty solicitors available in all sheriff and districtcourts. Solicitors must be eligible for the duty solicitor scheme in terms of criteriaset out by SLAB.

The available information is givenin the following table.

Persons proceeded against in Scottish courts for an offence underthe Dangerous Dogs Act 1991¹, 1991-92 to 2004-05

Year	Number
1991-92	24
1992-93	71
1993-94	65
1994-95	62
1995-96	46
1996-97	42
1997-98	51
1998-99	66
1999-2000	70
2000-01	54
2001-02	42
2002-03	51
2003-04	67
2004-05	68

Note: 1. Where main offence.

The information requested isavailable in the publication Scottish Households Below Average Income, 2004-05which is available either in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number39177) or on the Scottish Executive website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/95793/0023203.pdf.

The following table presentsthe median weekly household income estimates for Scotland based on the Family ResourcesSurvey. Results have been presented using GB information as the Family ResourcesSurvey has only included Northern Ireland since 2002-03.

Table: Median Weekly Household Income for Scotland, 2004-05

£ Per Week	Equivalised Net Disposable Household Income, Before Housing Costs	Equivalised Net Disposable Household Income, After Housing Costs
Scotland’s median in 2004-05	349	313
Scotland’s median if it followed a GB growth rate since 1996-97	339	301
Scotland’s median if it followed a GB growth rate since 1998-99	343	305

Source: Households Below AverageIncome, DWP.

Further information can be foundin the latest Scottish Households Below Average Income 2004-05 publicationhttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/95793/0023203.pdf.

Notes:

Net disposable household income: Total income after deductions for income tax,National Insurance Contributions, council tax, pension contributions and maintenancepayments.

Housing costs: Net disposable income but with rent/mortgage payments,water charges, structural insurance premiums, ground rent and service charges deducted.

Equivalised net disposable householdincome: “Equivalised” Income is used to allowcomparisons of living standards between different household types. Income is adjustedto take into account variations in the size and composition of the household. Thisadjustment reflects the fact that a family of several people requires a higher incomethan a single person in order for both households to enjoy a comparable standardof living. The key assumption is that all individuals in the household benefit equallyfrom the combined (equivalised) income of the household. There are distinct equivalencescales used for income before housing costs (BHC) and income after housing costs(AHC).

Median: The income valuewhich divides a population, when ranked by income, into two equal-sized groups.The measure is most commonly used to represent average income due to the highlyskewed nature of the income distribution, which leads to the very high incomes ofa few having a disproportionate impact on the mean.

The performance indicators thatyou refer to are the drivers and measures contained within the Partnership Agreementand ministerial commitments. These have been distilled down through the ExecutiveDepartments and are underpinned by Building a Better Scotland and Spending Reviewtargets which departments all contribute to. Most of this activity is reflectedwithin departmental business plans which are published.

Details of a Building a BetterScotland (which includes the Spending Review 2004 targets) and the technicalnotes that accompany the targets can be found on the Executive’s websites:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/09/19984/43685http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/11/20323/47384.

A final progress reporton targets that were set in September 2002 as part of the 2002 Spending Reviewwere published September 2006:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/06102312/0.

The end of term report on thePartnership Agreement and ministerial commitments was published on the interneton 29 December 2006 under A Partnership for a Better Scotland – DeliveringOur Commitments. A copy of this report can be found on the Executive’s website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/12/28151815/0.

Individual targets and performanceindicators for Scottish Executive agencies are set out in the corporate plans and/orbusiness plans published by each agency following agreement with Scottishministers. Links to agency websites are provided on the Public Bodies and Appointmentswebsite at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/introduction

Monitoring and financial auditrequirements are set out in the framework document for each Executive agency andsponsored public body. Copies of these documents are available from individual organisationsor via their websites. Performance Monitoring requirements are set out in furtherdetail in the corporate plans and/or business plans published by each agency orbody following agreement by Scottish ministers. Scottish Executive agencies andsponsored bodies must comply with the financial reporting and audit requirementsset out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and the Public Finance andAccountability (Scotland) Act 2000.

Since Government Expenditureand Revenue in Scotland (GERS) was first published (for 1990-91), £45.6 billionpounds has been raised, cumulatively, in  North Sea revenue by the UK Government.Over the same period the cumulative fiscal deficit excluding North Sea revenueswas £105.7 billion.

All health board employees inScotland are subject to Agenda for Change, with the exceptions of all grades of doctors,all grades of dentists and executives and senior managers.

The initial construction costfor Hairmyres Hospital was £68 million and for Wishaw Hospital it was £121 million.The following tables show the annual payments over the period of the respectivecontracts. The aggregate of these annual payments however cannot be directly comparedto the construction costs as these payments include the provision of hard and softFM services over the life of the contract.

Had the hospitals been procuredby a traditional procurement route additional annual costs would be incurred includingcapital charges and costs for the provision of hard and soft FM services.

Hairmyres Hospital

Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)
2004-05	15.45	2011-12	19.31	2018-19	22.52	2025-26	24.98
2005-06	17.10	2012-13	19.78	2019-20	23.10	2026-27	25.48
2006-07	17.42	2013-14	20.15	2020-21	23.60	2027-28	26.84
2007-08	17.75	2014-15	20.78	2021-22	23.15	2028-29	27.38
2008-09	17.98	2015-16	21.12	2022-23	23.61	2029-30	28.07
2009-10	18.43	2016-17	21.58	2023-24	24.08	2030-31	28.49
2010-11	18.82	2017-18	22.10	2024-25	24.24	2031-32	6.15

 

Wishaw Hospital

Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)
2004-05	22.51	2011-12	25.34	2018-19	28.26	2025-26	31.52
2005-06	23.08	2012-13	25.74	2019-20	28.71	2026-27	32.02
2006-07	23.45	2013-14	26.15	2020-21	29.16	2027-28	32.52
2007-08	23.81	2014-15	26.56	2021-22	29.62	2028-29	33.03
2008-09	24.19	2015-16	26.97	2022-23	30.08	2029-30	33.55
2009-10	24.57	2016-17	27.40	2023-24	30.55	2030-31	34.07
2010-11	24.95	2017-18	27.83	2024-25	31.03	2031-32	5.77